Group items tagged

From the oil spill to the financial crisis, why we don't plan for the worst Network News X PROFILE View More Activity TOOLBOX Resize Print E-mail Yahoo! Buzz Reprints   COMMENT 50 Comments  |  View All »  COMMENTS ARE CLOSED WHO'S BLOGGING » Links to this article By Richard A. Posner Sunday, June 6, 2010 The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the latest of several recent disastrous events for which the country, or the world, was unprepared. Setting aside terrorist attacks, where the element of surprise is part of the plan, that still leaves the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the global economic crisis that began in 2008 (and was aggravated by Greece's recent financial collapse) and the earthquake in Haiti in January. THIS STORY If it seems unthinkable, plan for it Why is BP's CEO still on the job? In all these cases, observers recognized the existence of catastrophic risk but deemed it to be small. Many other risks like this are lying in wait, whether a lethal flu epidemic, widespread extinctions, nuclear accidents, abrupt global warming that causes a sudden and catastrophic rise in sea levels, or a collision with an asteroid. Why are we so ill prepared for these disasters? It helps to consider an almost-forgotten case in which risks were identified, planned for and averted: the Y2K threat (or "millennium bug") of 1999. As the turn of the century approached, many feared that computers throughout the world would fail when the two-digit dates in their operating systems suddenly flipped from 99 to 00. The risk of disaster probably was quite small, but the fact that it had a specific and known date made it irrational to postpone any remedies -- it was act now or not at all. Such certainty about timing is rare; indeed, a key obstacle to taking preventive measures against unlikely disasters is precisely that they are unlikely to occur in the near future. Of course, if the consequences of the disaster would be very grave, t

The Perfect Spill: Solutions for Averting the Next Deepwater Horizon By Robert Costanza, David Batker, John Day, Rusty Feagin, M. Luisa Martinez, Joe Roman National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) f we refuse to take into account the full cost of our fossil fuel addiction-if we don't factor in the environmental costs and national security costs and true economic costs-we will have missed our best chance to seize a clean energy future." -President Barack Obama, Carnegie Mellon University, June 2, 2010 he continuing oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon is causing enormous economic and ecological damage. Estimates of the size and duration continue to escalate, but it is now the largest in U.S. history and clearly among the largest oil spills on record.1 s efforts to plug the leak and clean up the damages continue, it is not too soon to begin to draw lessons from this disaster. We need to learn from this experience so we can prevent future oil spills, reevaluate society's current trajectory, and set a better course. ne major lesson is that our natural capital assets and other public goods are far too valuable to continue to put them at such high risk from private interests. We need better (not necessarily more) regulation and strong incentives to protect these assets against actions that put them at risk. While the Obama administration's demand for a trust fund to compensate injured parties is appropriate, it arrived only after the fact. Common asset trusts and new financial instruments like assurance bonds would be better able to shift risk incentives and prevent disasters like the Deepwater Horizon. The Costs: Damages to Natural Capital Assets he spill has directly and indirectly affected at least 20 categories of valuable ecosystem services in and around the Gulf of Mexico. The $2.5 billion per year Louisiana commercial fishery has been almost completely shut down. As the oil extends to popular Gulf Coast beaches, the loss of tourism

Recent decades of globalisation have created a more interconnected, interdependent and complex world than ever witnessed before. While global policy has focused on facilitating integration, the implications of growing interdependence have been largely ignored. While the acceleration in global integration has brought many benefits, it has also created fragility through the underlying production of new kinds of systemic risks. The paper conceptualises systemic risk in the 21st Century and examines the challenges it poses to global governance regimes. The 2008-2009 financial crisis illustrates the failure of even sophisticated global institutions to manage the underlying forces of systemic risk, and this is symptomatic of institutional failure to keep pace with globalisation. The lessons from the financial crisis highlight the real threat of systemic risk to other 21st Century challenges, but more importantly, they expose the profound shortcomings of global institutions to manage global systemic risks in the future. The failure of the most developed and best-equipped global governance system, finance, to recognize or manage the new vulnerabilities associated with globalisation in the 21st Century highlights the scale and urgency of the challenge.  Policy Implications The rise of systemic risk requires a systemic response. Effective global governance and policy development has never been so necessary and urgent. The financial crisis illustrated that current global financial institutions are inadequate in their policy response to systemic risk and cannot keep pace with innovation and increasing system complexity in global finance. Deeper structural changes are required, including with respect to regulatory reforms. The institutional rigidity and profound shortcomings of global institutions applies not only to global finance, but to other looming systemic risks in the future. Neither the current global governance system, nor the planned reforms, meets the test of addre

           Volume 85    Issue One: November 2010   The French Revision of Prescription: A Model for Louisiana?, Benjamin West Janke & François-Xavier Licari (Lead Article)      The Rome II Regulation: A Comparative Perspective on Federalizing Choice of Law, Clay H. Kaminsky   Why the Beginning Should Be the End: The Argument for Exempting Post-Complaint Materials from Rule 26(b)(5)(A)'s Privilege-Log Requirement, Douglas C. Rennie   Essay: The Quran and the Constitution, L. Ali Khan   Book Review: Saving Civil Justice: Judging Civil Justice by Hazel Genn, Elizabeth G. Thornburg   Comment, Foolish Revenge or Shrewd Regulation? Financial Industry Tax Law Reforms Proposed in the Wake of the Financial Crisis, Richard T. Page    Comment, Breathing Life Into the "Dead Zone": Can the Federal Common Law of Nuisance Be Used to Control Nonpoint Source Water Pollution?, Endre Szalay        Issue Two: November 2010   "Sports Law": Implications for the Development of International, Comparative, and National Law and Global Dispute Resolution, Matthew J. Mitten & Hayden Opie (Lead Article)    A Uniform Framework for Patent Eligibility, Efthimios Parasidis    Tracing the Origins of "Fairly Traceable": The Black Hole of Private Climate Change Litigation, Mary Kathryn Nagle    Convergence in Contort, Melissa T. Lonegrass    Comment, Forum and Venue Selection Clauses in Seaman's Employment Contracts: Can Contractual Stipulations Be Used to Defeat a Seaman's Choice of Forum or Venue in a Jones Act Claim?, Jeremy Jones    Comment, The Downside of Success: How Increased Commercialism Could Cost the NCAA Its Biggest Antitrust Defense, Jeffrey J.R. Sundram      Issue Three: February 2011  Mixed Public-Private Speech and the Establishment Clause, Claudia E. Haupt   Clarity and Confusion: RICO's Recent Trips to the United States Supreme Court, Dr. Randy D. Gordon   Did You Ever Hear of the Napoleonic Code, Stella? A Mixed Jurisdi

What's the Fuss About "Financial Seismology"? ~ Frederic Sautet ~ A recent article in The Economist discusses the concept of "financial seismology." It's kind of a new idea that consists in monitoring through various indicators the financial system in order to forecast better the onset of a crisis. Three main indicators are discussed in the article: LIBOR (London interbank offered rate), the spread between LIBOR and OIS (overnight indexed swap), and CDS (credit-default swaps).

Oxford University Press US, 2008 - 600 páginas Environmental harm is commonly associated with companies that extract, consume, and pollute our shared natural resources. Rarely are the 'unseen polluters,' the financiers that sponsor and profit from eco-damaging corporations, placed at the forefront of the environmental debate. By focusing on these unseen polluters, Benjamin Richardson provides a comprehensive examination of socially responsible investment (SRI), and offers a guide to possible reform. Richardson proposes that greater regulatory supervision of SRI will help ensure that the financial sector prioritizes ethically-based investments. In Socially Responsible Investment Law, he suggests that new governmental reforms should encourage companies to participate in socially responsible investments by providing a better mix of standards and incentives for SRI through measures that include redefining the fiduciary responsibilities of institutional investors to incorporate environmental concerns. By doing so, Richardson posits that corporate financiers, including banks, hedge funds, and pension plans, will become more accountable to the goals of ensuring sustainable development.

Understanding the economic and financial impacts of natural disasters Charlotte Benson, Edward J. Clay 0 Resenhas World Bank Publications, 2004 - 119 páginas This study examines the short and long term economic and financial effects of natural disasters and the problems they pose for long-term development. It draws on evidence from studies of Bangladesh, Dominica, Malawi and southern Africa to explore macroeconomic and development issues, including the factors that contribute to underlying sensitivities, and opportunities for improving the economic management of risk and disasters.

The Journal of World Energy Law & Business Advance Access originally published online on March 15, 2010 The Journal of World Energy Law & Business 2010 3(2):140-165; doi:10.1093/jwelb/jwq002 This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Audios Audios All Versions of this Article: 3/2/140    most recent jwq002v2 jwq002v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My Personal Archive Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Scopus Links Citing Articles via CrossRef Google Scholar Articles by Wagner, J. Articles by Armstrong, K. Social Bookmarking          What's this? © The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the AIPN. All rights reserved. Managing environmental and social risks in international oil and gas projects: Perspectives on compliance Jay Wagner and Kit Armstrong* The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.    1. Introduction   Background Oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) and associated energy infrastructure projects take place across the globe in a diversity of environmental and socio-economic settings from the Arctic to the humid tropics. Energy industry activities are also inherently complex and risky. They involve a variety of environment, health and safety (EHS) and social issues that need to be carefully managed alongside geologic, political and economic risk factors. Worldwide, stakeholders are demanding ever-higher levels of environmental and social performance from the industry. In addition to EHS concerns, a wide range of social issues, such as human rights, revenue management, ethics, governance and corruption, have become increasingly significant in terms of both perception and conduct of industry activities. As a result, oil and gas companies are being exposed

Risk governance: coping with uncertainty in a complex world Ortwin Renn 0 Resenhas Earthscan, 2008 - 455 páginas This book, for the first time, brings together and updates the ground-breaking work of renowned risk theorist and researcher Ortwin Renn and integrates the major disciplinary concepts of risk in the social, engineering, and natural sciences. The book unfolds through consecutive acts, opening with the context of risk handling and flowing through the core topics of assessment, evaluation, perception, management, and communication, culminating in a look at the transition from risk management to risk governance and a glimpse at a new understanding of risk in (post)modern societies. The focus is on systemic risks, such as genetically modified organisms, that load high on complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity and have major repercussions on financial, economic, and social impact areas beyond the physical world. This is essential reading for all researchers, academics, and professionals across the social sciences, sciences, medical, engineering, and financial secto

Apprivoiser les catastrophes Pourquoi consacrer un numéro aux risques quand les publications se multiplient sur cette question ? Jocelyne DuboisMaury et Claude Chaline en particulier dressent un panorama quasi exhaustif de tous les risques naturels dont l'espace urbain est menacé, et des différentes mesures légales prévues pour l'en préserver. Mais qu'a voulu dire Ulrich Beck en parlant de « société du risque », et que cherchent à évoquer ceux qui comme Anthony Giddens en GrandeBretagne ou JeanPierre Dupuy en France lui ont emboîté le pas ? De grands corps d'ingénieurs, celui des Ponts et Chaussées et celui des Mines, ont évité aux Français depuis le XVIII e siècle de se poser ce genre de question. Le corps des Ponts et Chaussées s'est constitué pour entraver tout ce qui nuisait à la circulation des personnes et des marchandises, en utilisant la main d'oeuvre au chômage dans les campagnes. D'emblée il s'est mis en travers des risques d'atteinte à l'ordre public et c'est ce qui a fait son succès. Quant au corps des Mines il s'est distingué en calculant des machines qui diminuaient le risque d'accident tout en améliorant le rendement. Dès le Siècle des lumières l'État se constitue comme gestionnaire d'une « société du risque » où la prévention des aléas joue un rôle moteur dans l'amélioration des choses. De travaux en travaux cette amélioration devient tout à fait réelle. L'évolution de la norme est éclairante à ce sujet. C'est ainsi que la circulaire Caquot en 1949 invite à dimensionner les égouts de façon que la crue centennale soit avalée en une heure. Les égouts de Paris sont capables de cette performance. La construction des villes nouvelles est l'occasion de découvrir que cette norme, inappliquée par la plupart des villes de province, est inapplicable financièrement en ÎledeFrance également. Des solutions fort élégantes sont trouvées en allant chercher des i

Governing Disasters The Challenges of Emergency Risk Regulation Alberto Alemanno Edited by Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law and Risk Regulation, HEC Paris, France 2011 320 pp Hardback 978 0 85793 572 4 Hardback £75.00 on-line price £67.50 Qty This book is also available as an ebook  978 0 85793 573 1 from - www.EBSCOhost.com www.myilibrary www.ebooks.com www.ebookscorporation.com www.dawsonera.com www.ebrary.com/corp/ www.books.google.com/ebooks Description 'This comprehensive edited volume makes an important and much needed contribution to an increasingly important dimension of risk assessment and management, namely emergency risk regulation. Drawing upon the responses of government, businesses, and the public to the 2010 volcanic eruption in Iceland - which disrupted European air travel, it offers important lessons for policy-makers who are likely to confront similar unanticipated global risks. The recent nuclear power disaster in Japan makes this volume both timely and prescient.' - David Vogel, University of California, Berkeley, US Contents Contributors: A. Alemanno, N. Bernard, V. Brannigan, C.M. Briggs, M. Broberg, A. Burgess, G.G. Castellano, S. Chakraborty, A. Fioritto, F. Hansstein, L. Jachia, A. Jeunemaitre, C. Johnson, C. Lawless, F.B. López-Jurado, D. Macrae, M. Mazzocchi, V. Nikonov, M. Ragona, M. Simoncini, A.M. Viens Further information 'The challenges posed by risky decisions are well documented. These decisions become even more daunting when they must be made in a midst of a crisis. Using the European volcanic risk crisis as the principal case study, Alberto Alemanno and the other contributors to this thought provoking volume derive valuable lessons for how policy makers can cope with the attendant time pressures, uncertainties, coordination issues, and risk communication problems. Once the next emergency risk situation occurs, it may be too late to learn about how to respond. Governing Disasters should be re

10 MAY 2010: ANALYSIS The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: An Accident Waiting to Happen The oil slick spreading across the Gulf of Mexico has shattered the notion that offshore drilling had become safe. A close look at the accident shows that lax federal oversight, complacency by BP and the other companies involved, and the complexities of drilling a mile deep all combined to create the perfect environmental storm. by john mcquaid It's hard to believe now, as oil from the wrecked Deepwater Horizon well encroaches on the Louisiana marshes. But it was only six weeks ago that President Obama announced a major push to expand offshore oil and gas drilling. Obama's commitment to lift a moratorium on offshore drilling reflected the widely-held belief that offshore oil operations, once perceived as dirty and dangerous, were now so safe and technologically advanced that the risks of a major disaster were infinitesimal, and managing them a matter of technocratic skill. But in the space of two weeks, both the politics and the practice of offshore drilling have been turned upside down. Today, the notion that offshore drilling is safe seems absurd. The Gulf spill harks back to drilling disasters from decades past - including one off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif. in 1969 that dumped three million gallons into coastal waters and led to the current moratorium. The Deepwater Horizon disaster is a classic "low probability, high impact event" - the kind we've seen more than our share of recently, including space shuttle disasters, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina. And if there's a single lesson from those disparate catastrophes, it's that pre-disaster assumptions tend to be dramatically off-base, and the worst-case scenarios downplayed or ignored. The Gulf spill is no exception. Getty Images/U.S. Coast Guard Fire boats battle the fire on the oil rig Deepwater Horizon after the April 21 explosion. The post-mortems are only beginning, so the precise causes of the initial

Disaster Management Handbook Jack Pinkowski 0 Resenhas CRC Press, 2008 - 595 páginas Record breaking hurricane seasons, tornados, tsunamis, earthquakes, and intentional acts of mass-casualty violence, give lie to the delusion that disasters are the anomaly and not the norm. Disaster management is rooted in the fundamental belief that we can protect ourselves. Even if we cannot control all the causes, we can prepare and respond. We can craft constructive, workable policy that will contribute to the prevention of enormous financial impact, destruction of the environment, and needless loss of life. Integrating scholarly articles from international experts and first hand accounts from the practitioner community, Disaster Management Handbookpresents an analytical critique of the interrelated, multidisciplinary issues of preparedness, response, and recovery in anticipating and rebuilding from disasters. Beginning with an introduction to the theoretical constructs and conceptual foundations of disaster management, the book reviews the relationship of modern development todisaster vulnerability, the politics of disaster management, leadership, and the role of agency coordination. The second and third sections examine case studies and lessons learned through natural disasters in North America and around the world. They compare and contrast the efficacy of different management strategies from national, provincial, and local governments, as well as non-governmental agencies. Taking a narrower scope, the fourth section focuses on emergency personnel and the methods and issues faced in on-the-scene response and preparation. It also considers the special needs of hospitals and the effective use of the media. Contributions in the final two sections present strategies for limiting and ameliorating the psychological impact of disaster on victims and personnel, and look forward to how we can be better prepared in the future and rebuild stronger, more resilient communities.

Although asbestos was once considered a miracle mineral, today even the word itself has ominous implications for all strata of our society. Incorporated in the past into over 3000 different industrial and consumer products, as well as in building materials and military equipment, opportunities for exposure continue to be ever present in our environment. Of all of us who are potentially exposed, blue collar workers are at greatest risk. Countless thousands of workers and servicemen in a wide variety of trades were disabled or have died consequent to the health effects of asbestos, and many more can be expected to be affected in years to come. Litigation continues, and financial awards in the billions have bankrupt many Fortune 500 companies and numerous smaller companies. While one might implicate our forefathers in this widespread, relentless medical catastrophe, it has been only in recent decades that science has appreciated the complexities of the problem and the long latencies before the asbestos-associated diseases appear clinically. After all these years, prevention remains the hallmark of disease control, as modern treatments remain, to a large extent, futile.

he United States and other nations are facing large-scale risks at an accelerating pace. In 2005, three major hurricanes-Katrina, Rita, and Wilma-made landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast within an eight-week period. The damage caused by these storms led to insurance reimbursements and federal disaster relief of more than $180 billion-a record sum. Today we are more vulnerable to catastrophic losses because of the increasing concentration of population and activities in high-risk coastal regions of the country. The question is not whether but when future catastrophes will strike. Who should pay the costs associated with catastrophic losses suffered by homeowners in hazard-prone areas? In At War with the Weather, Howard Kunreuther and Erwann Michel-Kerjan and their colleagues deliver a groundbreaking analysis of how we currently mitigate, insure against, and finance recovery from natural disasters in the United States. They offer innovative, long-term solutions for reducing losses and providing financial support for disaster victims that define a coherent strategy to assure sustainable recovery from future large-scale disasters. The amount of data collected and analyzed and innovations proposed make this the most comprehensive book written on these critical issues in the past thirty years.